


An Ever-steady Altitude

by Nevcolleil



Category: Myron Bolitar - Harlan Coben
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 04:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: Falling for Win is a lot like any other life threatening situation Myron’s ever been in: it happens fast, he doesn’t realize the danger until he’s already in the thick of things, and it’s at least fifty percent Win’s fault.(50+ '1 sentence fics')





	An Ever-steady Altitude

#01 - Ring

 

It’s rare when Win passes up on the opportunity to be cynical and disparaging on the topic of holy matrimony, but he doesn’t say a thing when Myron buys Jessica the ring; he doesn’t say anything when Myron asks him to return it, either.

#02 - Hero

 

“Me? Myron - you, of all people - know that I am no hero,” Win scoffs; Myron only smiles.

#03 - Memory

 

Myron collects mementos while Win does not; it isn’t that Win cares less - it’s that, unlike Myron, Win has a plan for how to proceed should he lose his other half , and allowing memory to sustain him isn’t part of it.

#04 - Box

 

It’s the kind of fool thing Myron knows he’s going to regret before he even does it, but he bites down on his mouth guard and dances from foot to foot in the center of the ring while, in the stands, Win has settled into his seat with a bag of popcorn.

#05 - Run

 

It doesn’t matter that Myron is up every morning, just like this, just like Win; by the time he’s breathless Win hasn’t even broken sweat, so Myron feels compelled to reach into Win’s running clothes and even the score.

#06 - Hurricane

 

It looks like a miniature hurricane tore through the drive - a shoe lies beneath the hedge, a tie hangs from Myron’s basketball hoop; he hopes to God some kid wasn’t riding his bike past the house when Win pulled Myron into the bushes and proceeded to ravish him.

#07 - Wings

 

Win abhors finger foods (they’re too undignified) but he quite likes when Myron eats them; what licking barbeque sauce from Myron’s fingers lacks in dignity it makes up in those little sounds Myron makes as Win’s tongue touches his fingertips.

#08 - Cold

 

Win’s penthouse doesn’t look like itself with the soiled tissues piling up like odd piles of snow on the end tables and the oral medications of every form and function lining his wet bar and he says, “Honestly, why do I put up with you?”; “Pecause you wub be.”

#09 - Red

 

They don’t talk about it, Myron doesn’t even like to think it, but he knows that Win is not right - his bloodlust has a hair trigger like a switch; Myron wonders which of them is the more sick - Win, who doesn’t seem to know different, or him, who chooses Win just as he is. 

#10 - Drink

 

Myron likes leaving traces of himself everywhere - his jersey beneath Win’s bed and his cans of Yoohoo next to Win’s bottles of Voss in the fridge.

#11 - Midnight

 

It’s after midnight by the time Myron makes it to Win’s cabin and the unmarked car is already missing from the driveway; Myron’s hand shakes as he lets himself in to keep vigil in Win’s living room.

#12 - Temptation

 

Myron can’t help it - he’s tried everything but sitting on his hands, which would look juvenile; “If you ring that damned bell one more time,” Win says calmly, “dear friend or no, I will end you.”

#13 - View

 

“Enjoying the view?” he asks, and Myron says yes - eyes focused on Win’s reflection in the window pane.

#14 - Music

 

They listen to classical on long drives, classic rock when they’re hanging out at Myron’s, and each other when they’re making love having sex.

#15 - Silk

 

Myron likes the way Win moves in his silk shirts or pajama bottoms, not that Win doesn’t move like silk himself no matter what (if anything) he’s clothed in.

#16 - Cover

 

Going undercover as “a gay couple happy in love” should be no problem for two close friends secure in their sexualities (but it’s hell for a guy whose been in love with his womanizing best friend since college.)

#17 - Promise

 

“If he does not make it, I promise you this: I will not kill you; interpret that as you will.”

#18 - Dream

 

Myron’s worst nightmare is the same as a lot of people’s, probably: Win holding a gun; only, in Myron’s dream, Win’s gun is pointed back at Win and Myron is the one who provided the bullet.

#19 - Candle

 

Myron blushes at even the most vanilla of suggestions, so sometimes Win surprises him; he stows a toy beneath the pillows or fills the room with candles and waits until Myron is bound or blindfolded before mentioning the vibrator or the hot wax.

#20 - Talent

 

“You know, I think you’ve turned the act of getting yourself shot - and by marksmen only laughingly deserving of the title - into a real art form,” Win scolds, but his eyes are serious and his hands gentle as he dresses Myron’s wound.

#21 - Silence

 

It isn’t the gunshot over the static-y connection of their phones that makes Win’s heart pause, it is the quiet that follows - a silent picture horror movie that ends the moment he next hears Myron breathe.

#22 - Journey

 

They’ve been all over the world together - Myron even has pictures from the places the United States government hasn’t ordered them to pretend they’ve never seen.

#23 - Fire

 

Pain explodes behind his eyelids - sparks sizzle along his spine - and smoke obscures the memory of where Win’s gone and why Myron’s world is agony, but some things are instinct; “Win!” Myron yells before darkness descends and the fireworks fade.

#24 - Strength

 

It takes everything he’s got, but he forces himself to pry the Taurus’s mangled door open and look inside; he falls to his knees, after, and thanks God.

#25 - Mask

 

“Win isn’t really that cold,” Myron insists, “when you get to know him you’ll realize-”; “He’s a lot freaking scarier,” Esparanza finishes.

#26 - Ice

 

He may be the only one who’s ever seen the great Windsor Horne Lockwood the third fall flat on his ass, and (if he’d like to keep both his eyes by destroying the pictures of their ice skating foray) Myron will remain the only one.

#27 - Fall

 

Falling for Win is a lot like any other life threatening situation Myron’s ever been in: it happens fast, he doesn’t realize the danger until he’s already in the thick of things, and it’s at least fifty percent Win’s fault.

#28 - Forgotten

 

Win isn’t like most people - big, frightening things don’t phase him, but little things garner his utmost attention; one day, in college, this boy smiled up at him - this big, beautiful boy with no sense of style to speak of but a smile like a lit match - despite the fact that the other jocks clustered around him were looking down on Win in disdain, and Win’s never forgotten.

#29 - Dance

 

Win dances the way he fights, with grace and precision and intent; Myron dances the way he fights - with a give ‘em hell attitude.

#30 - Body

 

Certainly Myron’s got a body worth getting excited about, but Win isn’t certain that it’s any of Myron’s physical attributes that make the sex with him so inexplicably better than the sex Win’s had with anyone else.

#31 - Sacred

 

They have each had other lovers, but none that knew the ins and outs of what they each hold sacred so well as one another: a perfectly calibrated rifle, Julie Newmar’s catsuit, the view of the stands from half court, and an untouched bottle of ‘73 Montrachet.

#32 - Farewells

 

“You asked what I would do and I told you; I’m sorry if that makes you unhappy, but I do not lie to you and I do not intend to stick around to see what would become of the world without you in it.”

#33 - World

 

“The World Is Not Enough - what a stupid title; why ever wouldn’t the world be enough for- Well, no, I wouldn’t stop there either, but that is entirely besides the point.”

#34 - Formal

 

Win tells Myron that he looks particularly “fuckable” in a tuxedo; Myron doesn’t think in words like that, but - looking at Win in formal attire (the crisp white shirt and the perfectly tailored pants and the cuff links) - yeah, Myron shares his sentiment.

#35 - Fever

 

His face feels like it’s burning - he knew kissing Win would be hot, but it’s fear and embarrassment that really heat him.

#36 - Laugh

 

Immediately after, Win laughs - sincere and loud - and Myron’s stomach drops, but Win’s eyes are bright and (for once) warm and completely absent of derision; “Well, it looks like Esparanza was right - perhaps making a move wouldn’t have resulted in my humiliating myself entirely.” 

#37 - Lies

 

Win is kind to Myron’s other friends (even the “needless” ones) and Myron calls it “sex”, same as Win does, but these are lies they tell for the sake of diplomacy; the real truth of them is in that Win actually enjoys compromise, when it makes Myron happy, and that Myron saves his declarations for when Win can accept them without fearing them.

#38 - Forever

 

“I thought you were the type to want to settle down and grow old with someone,” she says, and she is partly right - Win will never really “settle”; Win will be there if Myron gets to be old, however - Win is not sentimental but he is fiercely loyal and committed.

#39 - Overwhelmed

 

“Breathe, Myron,” he says, and Win can’t be blamed for his voice wobbling - he’s a bit overwhelmed himself; he’d never come so hard he’s seen stars before.

#40 - Whisper

 

“I can hear the two of you whispering and, no, Father isn’t going to like it, even if the chameleon is “really really cute”; stop corrupting our daughter’s artistic pallet, Myron.”

#41 - Wait

 

Win can be frighteningly patient at times, but that patience does not extend to waiting for Myron to get out of his clothes when the mood is urgent; Myron used to let his mom sew his shirt buttons back on, but then she started looking at him oddly so now he just replaces the ones Win ruins in his haste.

#42 - Talk

 

“Yes, darling, it was quite funny,” he tells her; when they’re alone, he gives Myron his fiercest glare and insists that he is never watching another Disney movie (again).

#43 - Search

 

Someone is foolish enough to try and use their daughter against them only once; the papers say the search took seven days, but that isn’t strictly true - as the right sources will tell you, it took them two days to find their girl… and Win five days to get finished with her kidnappers.

#44 - Hope

 

Maybe Win is right - maybe that fine line between right and wrong was meant to be blurred; ‘Maybe you don’t draw things you want kept neat and even in chalk,’ Myron muses (hopes) silently.

#45 - Eclipse

 

“Once upon a time there was love in my heart…”; “Myron, I love you, but if don’t stop singing our captors will return to one living captive, not two.”

#46 - Gravity

 

What goes up must come down, they say, but Win prefers to rely upon his own wisdom in evaluating his options; he chooses to believe that this amazing thing with Myron will maintain its altitude.

#47 - Highway

 

Speed limits, like all laws (manmade or otherwise) are mere suggestions in Win’s perspective, so Myron’s learned to equate the highway with the high-speed prospect of an untimely death.

#48 - Unknown

 

Myron’s never seen Win jealous and he thinks it’s because Win doesn’t care about stuff like that, feels too secure for jealousy; Myron doesn’t think he’s ever seen Win jealous and Win knows it’s because Win, jealous, is a truly silent threat.

#49 - Lock

 

“Just unlock the door, sweetie; I promise that your daddy and I aren’t angry that you gave that narrow-minded miniature bigot a rather impressive roundhouse k- No, Myron, I’m not encouraging her.”

#50 - Breathe

 

“Breathe, Myron,” he says, and if Win’s voice is wobbly he will claim later that Myron imagined it - nearly drowning can alter one’s perceptions, after all.

 

Extras:

#03 - Memory

 

Myron doesn’t have a memory of Jeremy as an infant, as a child - he wasn’t there to make one - but the first time a ball sails out of his son’s hands and swishes through a net, Myron grins and feels like he’s just taken a baby step. 

#36 - Laugh

 

From morning to night they tease, they joke; their poker faces have gotten good - El and Al don’t crack a smile as they rib one another for this little thing or that - the laughter is in their eyes.

#20 - Talent

 

Norm knows talent: talent is the only commodity you can still sell once the stores are empty, that will rot on your shelf while demand is high and the quality is good if you don’t package it correctly.

#17 - Promise

 

Myron’s anguish can be explained by this: the weight of his father’s hand on his small shoulder was not only a comfort when Myron was a child, it felt like a promise - a promise that time is now breaking. 

#09 - Red

 

Big Cindy is all red today: fire-engine red hair, scarlet red culottes (to boggle the mind) and a peasant blouse; when she drums her sausage-like fingers on the desktop she embeds flecks of red fingernail polish in the scarred wood.

#10 - Drink

 

He’s more modern-day gumshoe, these days, than sports agent - not that he minds; Myron would like to think of himself as the Dick Tracey type, but he doesn’t own a trench coat and he’s never liked Scotch as much as a nice bottle of Yoohoo.


End file.
